I’m sure this question has been asked before…
but what can I do this summer? I’ve been painting and drawing…I want to do something more than that. I’m just so ready to be back at school where I have design projects to be working on but in the summer I’ve got nothing. Any ideas of what I can be doing for fun and just to improve?
Design competitions are around. There’s the FutureSole footwear design competition I know off the top of my hat. I don’t know if Betacup is over yet. Just google a bit.
Yea agreed, have a look on the competitions around Core77 and further a field. Theres alot going on (anything but crowd sourcing sites! haha, grrr) 
The summer is a great opportunity to get some real life experience and go for an internship.
You might be a little late out of the gate but it’s not impossible to find a place, maybe half time.
Look around you and see if there is any place you’d really like to work.
You might not get paid, or if, not much but it will teach you something that competitions, as fun and helpful as they are, can’t.
Contact local firms andsee if you can buy coffee for someone and chat.
Offer to job shadow or be a design assistant one or two days a week.
Get a part time job at anything to earn some cash, get out of the house, and observe people. One summer I worked during the day as a stockboy at a grocery store, on the weekend with a caterer, and nights at a shipping warehouse. That people experimce was great later.
Work everyday like you have a design job. Write yourself briefs, do at least 2 full projects per week (research, sketches, rendering, a sketch model, some quick orhographic drawings…)
journal. Yes journal. Fin out why you wan. To be a desiners no matter how silly your rants sound to yourslef, get it on paper and examine it.
Don’t talk, do, and post your work here!
Does anyone of some design firms in Topeka, KS?
That would be where I’m spending the summer. I’ve got a part time job now and try to work as much as possible. I journal quite a lot so I’ve got that part down. I try to sketch whenever possible sometimes I just don’t have any idea of what to sketch.
Check out idsketching.com, sketch-a-day.com, go to amazon.com, look through product categories (electronics, housewares, etc.), browse through coroflot. Sketch things on your desk, in your room, outside your window…
I went from Ireland to Vancouver to do the above. It’s more than an experience, it’s indescribable. I have contacted some design company already, and I had been given a fantastic feedback.
I’m there for two weeks, and the savings are running out already. Trying to come up with ways to get cheap food and to avoid high transportation costs while going from one interview to another is a design job in its own right - its not just a design job, its a massive exploration.
Every little detail that looks different to what I’m used to becomes stuck in my head. In general, this sort of observation will eventually form your thoughts later on, and these thoughts will transform into meaningful ideas. You can only get ideas once you see something new. If you are spending all your day in a deep well, all you’ll think about is how to get out of there. This is not good enough. You simply MUST have different experiences some time, and they don’t necessarily need to involve design internships.
If you’re stuck for ideas, go abroad. This experience will make you think on your feet a lot better.
I’m going to Chicago in about a week…been there before but it’s been quite a long time. Anyone have ideas of what to do while there. We are going to some museums and some wandering for photography…any other ideas?
There are so many firms in Chicago. Contact some before you go. Go the West Loop area.